lasalista, lasalyanetan or aranetan

I recently renewed my contact with my alma mater, the Gregorio Araneta University Foundation (GAUF). Or, should I say its bastardized metamorphosis—as I'd written in a recent blog (http://raulgalangsarmiento.blogspot.com/2014/04/passing-on-at-sixty.html)—the De La Salle Araneta University (DLSAU)?  This was made possible by the invite of the DLSAU’s Supreme Student Council (SSC) to share my thoughts on Aranetan (GAUF) identity during the “Lasalyanetan Identity Forum” last January 22, 2014. 

In nearly a decade, that was my first public engagementJ, although only the first few front rows of seats of the Osmeňa Hall were occupied.  I was there as a resource person since I was the GAUF SSC president in Academic Year 1986-87; before that, the vice president for external affairs.  The other resource person was the DLSAU SSC president in 2008-2009.   I think I had become notoriously famous (to a small section of the student population) for being at the helm of the SSC and the most visible spearhead when the University President was ousted in 1987 through the concerted protest actions of the broadest formation one could organize in a university—the core of the protesters coming from the students, faculty and employees’ unions and alumni—that lasted nearly two months, if I’m not mistaken.

On hindsight, though, this historic first—ouster of a sitting university president—now appears to preface the transformation of Don Salvador Araneta’s “bastard son” into a member of the De La Salle (System) Philippines after a circuitous and calculated turn of events.  I was initially tempted to use the words deceptive and premeditated to describe the manoeuvres that led to its incorporation in the DLSP but opted not to in deference to the De La Salle brothers as a religious order.  As mentioned in another blog, “the noble bastard son” (https://raulgalangsarmiento.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-noble-bastard-son.html), I and the other members of the University Rehabilitation Task Force (URTF), which was constituted immediately after the resolution of the above protest, were made to believe that the university would really be rehabilitated.  As a “consuelo de bobo”, though, that event had somehow cautioned the De La Salle brothers and made them to work harder and shed some sweat for 15 years to snare a known agricultural university into their system to narrow the gap of its academic status vis-à-vis the UP System and its famous rival, the Ateneo de Manila University.

I was in a fix whether I’ll accept the invite sent to me through the Facebook a few days before Christmas.  But I found myself in a deeper fix after I accepted the invite a few days past the New Year.  As I reflected and really thought harder, I realized that I don’t really know what identity GAUF was able to establish since its founding in 1946 as Araneta Institute of Agriculture (AIA).  I realized this when I asked myself:  “Did GAUF, as an educational institution, able to establish an identity—some sort of a trademark—that when it’s mentioned people will automatically think of that trademark?   Was this slowly developed from its founding up to its eventual assimilation into the DLSP early on in this millennium?

A line in a pre-owned (the term before was second-hand) book I was reading then made me to conclude that it did not.  That line was: “If a business can be run from the grave, the Tribune was.”  The author, James D. Squires (1993:29-30) was of course referring to the Chicago Tribune in his book “Read All About It! The Corporate Takeover of America’s Newspapers”.  And the man running it from the grave was Colonel Robert Rutherford McCormick, grandson of Tribune founder, Joseph Medill.

That, to me, is the undeniable manifestation that that newspaper had clearly established an institutional identity.  According to Squires, the Tribune started out as a progressive social force dedicated to the abolition of slavery.  But its long association with the Republican Party and allegedly the Colonel’s hatred of Franklin D. Roosevelt had established it as perhaps the country’s most conservative voice.  He further noted that in the 1970s the “Tribune’s editorial page clung to the 40s and 50s and its political reporters continued to punish the Colonel’s targets as if he were still reading their copy” (Ibid: 30).  So, if you’re going to mention Chicago Tribune, before the corporate takeover of US media, the people, or at least those in the know, would probably chorus “the most conservative newspaper”; and that was the Tribune identity.  Its 1970s editorial page clinging to the 40s and 50s when the Colonel had long been laid to rest was the clearest proof of that conservative tag.  The Colonel surely had not just installed but institutionalized certain policies, systems and procedures that made this possible.

 

On the other hand, in my development work experience, if you mention the Panay Rural Development Center, Inc. (PRDCI) among Visayan NGOs, POs and GOs in mid-2000s, they would most likely unanimously say “community-based river and watershed rehabilitation”.  Cite CARE Philippines, you’ll probably hear various answers, if not, none at all.  And to think PRDCI was only founded in the early 1990s while CARE Philippines was set up after World War II (1949) as the US government's arm in its war reparation and reconstruction efforts in the country.  Obviously, PRDCI made its mark in river and watershed rehabilitation although it also implemented (and still implements) other programs and projects in its pursuit of holistic community-based rural democratization and development.  CARE Philippines, I believe, engaged in numerous development programs but failed to be identified with a particular project or program until it closed shop in late 2000s.

Following this analogy, was GAUF able to establish an identity throughout its existence?  If you’ll mention it to people who somehow knew what it was, will they chorus one answer?  To this I can offer a conjecture.  For those in the know, the most likely common relevant reply would be “the best private agriculture and forestry university” in Metro Manila.  But for the ordinary people—the masa—they would be unanimous in declaring “the university at the Balintawak Toll Plaza”, which is probably what DLSAU today is known, too. Obviously, “the best private agriculture and forestry university” tag failed to spread and gained wider recognition among the people.  Contrast this to the identity of UP, or, even of De La Salle University (DLSU) which are identified by specific tags.

I can’t claim I know Don Salvador Araneta for I hardly knew him.  But nobody, I assume, would dare to contradict me if I say that he envisioned GAUF to be the best affordable private agriculture and forestry educational institution in the country.  Given his knowledge and skills and the endowment he bestowed to his “bastard son”, there was no big reason why this dream could not be realized.  In the end, however, it did not only miserably failed to achieve this but, the saddest part, the most likely biggest legacy of his greatness as a benevolent man folded up at the turn of the millennium.  Why?

Again, I'll dare to forward a conjecture.  May be because of the many hats he wore as a man, he failed to do a Colonel McCormick.  He failed to mainstream and institutionalize his vision in the organization that will manage and run GAUF once he’s laid in his grave.  It now appears that not even his nearest kin shared his vision for his bastard son. Moreover, there were no mainstreamed, much less institutionalized, policies, systems and procedures that could have deterred his successors from going against his vision.  Or, in resolving problems revolving its operations the way he did while he's at the helm.

And, of course, the little that might still be institutionally installed was lost when his bastard son was assimilated into the DLSP for he would now have to play by the rules—policies, systems and procedures—of the De La Salle brothers.  True, the latter are a religious missionary order but that, I believe, is not a guarantee that they’re more humane and compassionate than Don Salvador.  After reading “GLIMPSES ON THE LIFE, PHILOSOPHY, AND ADVOCACIES of DON SALVADOR Z. ARANETA” written by GAUF old timers (Tadena, Callangan and Blancaflor 2005), I came to that conclusion.

I can’t imagine Don Salvador going to the extent of antagonizing and dissolving the student council and the school paper, Tinig, just to have his way, which was the strategy applied to facilitate the assimilation of GAUF into the DLSP.  Following his concept on Complete Education—the education of the mind, of the heart, of the will and of the body—he would have most likely considered the student council and the school paper as ideal venues for extra-curricular activities for students to “educate their hearts and their will” for he believed that “a perfect complete education produces a good leader” (Tadena, Callangan and Blancaflor 2005: 50).  He would most likely opt to influence and direct the rebelliousness of the student activists in particular, and the students, in general, toward achieving his vision of Basic and Complete Education instead of developing schisms between him and the students.

There were a number of more than anecdotal testimonies to support my claim.  Corazon D. Vicario, Ph.D., who joined the university when it was Araneta Institute of Agriculture and fresh from her graduation from UP Diliman more than half-a-century ago, remembered in her glimpses that “student organizations were encouraged, and campus socials were frequent and well-attended” and Don Salvador and Dona Victoria attended and participated in these (Ibid: 129).  She also narrated how Don Salvador handled the COCOFED scholars, whom he had given “free quarters at the Men’s Residence Hall, when they held a torch march to the White House to complain about their quarters.”  White House was how the old timers fondly referred to the family residence of Don Salvador.  Instead of berating and booting them out, a typical reaction of lesser school administrators, he was “pleased instead that they had the courage to speak up, as he had always encouraged everyone to do.”  Of course, the students went home when he bade them to with the assurance that he would solve their problems because they knew him as a man of action and one who keeps his words (Ibid:133-134).

This is not surprising for he had great faith in the youth that was reflected unequivocally in his “My Credo and My Votum”, where Don Salvador declared that the youth “may disappoint us many times, basically and essentially he is the same young Rizal, with an ambition for education, determined to win for himself a place under our tropical sun. . . may be irresponsible at times, but yet he is made of the stuff of heroes and martyrs when the call and the hour is come. . . he may reach college very formless and uncouth, but like all rough diamonds in the hands of artificer, it can be made to shine and become a material for leadership, unbending as steel. . . a keen and conscientious educator will discover, shape and direct his genius to what is noble and basic” (Ibid: 78).  

This is a timely reminder to all school administrators and educators, especially to the De La Salle brothers, which are now the controlling interest of his bastard son.  I hope that in the future I won’t be hearing students being barred from their graduation because of what to me is the knee-jerk reaction of DLSAU factotums over trivial juvenile pranks.  I sincerely hope they won’t turn out to be jerks because of their decisions.  I sincerely hope too that like Don Salvador they should dig objectively into the heart of the problem before coming out with definite solutions (Ibid: 133).

 After reading that book, how I wished that those who succeeded Don Salvador as University President had learned a thing or two from him; also, developed his innate uprightness and honourableness in dealing with the various constituents of GAUF.  Although this is now purely in the realm of imagination and what-ifs, it still excites me to speculate the extent of greatness GAUF could have become if it was run from the grave by  Don Salvador just as the Chicago Tribune was allegedly run by Colonel McCormick.  Will it still go under like the big newspapers if his successors followed his “formula”?  As we look back, the Golden Age of GAUF was definitely achieved when Don Salvador was figuratively at the driver’s seat, so to speak.

This and the residual good repute of GAUF that was passed through word-of-mouth, I believe, is what motivated a section of the student population to question their identity.  Are they Lasallians, Aranetans or Lasalyanetans?  A budding photographer in the school paper asked me during the forum my position on this.  My answer was they’re Lasallians but sans the “coňo” tag that’s associated with De La Salle University (Taft) students.  That the Lasalyanetan Identity will be temporary and will be replaced by a single identity  that will evolve from all the member-schools—including the DLSU Taft—of De La Salle Philippines.  The Aranetan Identity or what remains of it will be completely neutralized or erased with the passing of time, if this has not happened at this juncture.  Following the strategic direction set by the De La Salle brothers that can be gleaned from their vision, mission, goals and strategies (VMGS), this common identity will manifest in due time in all the 16 member-schools.

In my view, the Aranetan Identity could have developed further and strengthened if only GAUF had become a De La Salle Philippines-administered university where the DLSP’s best practices here and abroad in managing and running schools would be used to pursue and attain the vision of Don Salvador for his bastard son.   But his bastard son is now being run by St. Jean-Baptiste de La Salle from the grave.  Perpetuating the legacy of the bastard son, I believe, would speak better for the De La Salle brothers than subsuming him in their system to be at par with their rival schools.

So, unlike other GAUF alumni, including some of my colleagues in the national democratic movement, I cannot write DLSAU as my alma mater in my resume or even in my Facebook profile.  I don't need the Lasallian green tag to take pride in my Aranetan Identity. (30)  

levi's 503s and crispa white tees

This line from the song “Last Year’s Man” kept ringing in my ears:  “And though I wear a uniform I was not born to fight”.  The song was by Canadian poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen, a favourite.  Truth to tell, I still don’t know what the song is all about.  I’d read somewhere in the net that it was one of his most profound songs and his fans can’t seem to agree on a common meaning.  It has passages about Jesus and Cain as well as on Joan of Arc and wounded soldiers and, Babylon and Bethlehem.  It’s the manner of how Cohen sang it that attracted me most to it—the same attribute that made me to like and repeatedly listen to his albums, especially his early recordings.  It was mainly that single line though that prompted me to write this post.

Cohen's 1971 LP

It was the late rock icon radio disc jockey Howlin’ Dave (aka Dante David) that introduced me to Cohen.  Day in day out my battery-operated transistor radio was tuned in to DZRJ, the Rock of Manila, when I was an aggie student in UP Los Baňos from 1976 to 1983.  It would play on as soon as I entered my dormitory room from my classes until the station signed off.  Sometimes, it would automatically play in the morning to wake me up if I failed to turn it off the previous night.  I think I’d spent more time listening to this radio station’s disc jockeys than my professors in the university; maybe that’s one of the reasons why I failed to earn my degree in spite of my seven-year stay.

Parading North Korean soldiers

What’s so significant about that line?  You see, one of the things I hated most about my college life was the compulsory military training, the Reserved Officers Training Course (ROTC), which every able-bodied male student had to attend for four semesters before he could graduate.   This did not only made me to stay long hours under the scorching heat of the sun obeying, mostly stupid, orders from the cadet officers but it also prevented me from growing my hair long—really long, which was an obsession at that time to look like a rock star.  The more underlying reason was my then growing resentment over military abuses and its role to prop up the brutal administration of then dictator Ferdinand Marcos.  The army fatigue-coloured uniform that we have to wear every training day (Saturday) came to represent some sort of a shackle that prevented me from doing and pursuing things I always wanted to do during what Bob Dylan sang as “times they are a-changin”.  This may sound trivial and senseless, even selfish, today, but for a restless and rebellious young man it’s all that counts. 

Mingo tired after playing with my flip flops

I only started hating being in uniforms on my first semester in UPLB.  Suddenly, I can attend my classes in whatever outfits I chose.  Some male students came to their classes in shorts, either athletic or cut-off denim, and wearing ordinary rubber slippers, very much unlike the pricey Brazilian flip flops of today’s youth.  I now can’t help but remember my bearded and hairy Spanish-looking mate—that’s how we call each other in our dorm organization, the Calma Bulls, instead of the usual brod—who loved to wear Adidas football shorts and would most likely elicit giggles from girls when he’s seating on the steps of stairs of buildings while waiting for his classes.  Football shorts from the late 70s were really, really short compared to the ones worn by players today and this was the cause why one of his testicles would dangle out to the full view of the incoming girls—thus, the impish giggles.  I don’t know if this contributed to why he was able to hook up with one of the most fantasized girls in the campus, which my juvenile mates had good-humouredly but politically incorrectly described as teeming with lady loggers and farm hands.

Some things remain unchanged

In high school at Don Bosco (Pampanga), it was well-pressed navy blue pants and white polo shirts and black leather shoes, except when we’re allowed to wear “civilian” clothes during very special occasions.  Denim jeans, no matter how blue and “unfaded”, were a no-no.  But even during these special occasions, I dreaded wearing “civilian” clothes because of an earlier incident.  I was attending a meeting of the Boy Scouts on a Saturday and I came beaming with pride wearing for the first time a printed polo shirt.  The feeling of pride was short-lived though.  As soon as I had taken a seat, a classmate deridingly commented, “hey classmate, nice shirt! It looks like it’s made from chicken feed sack!”  I was taken aback and shame overcame me and could not retort a reply.

Improvised flour sack blanket

At that time, of course, chicken feeds were bagged in printed cloths instead of the usual jute or plastic sacks so common today.  We may not be rich just like most students of Don Bosco but my mom would never buy empty chicken feeds cloth sacks and have these sewn into our—my father, younger brother and I— polo shirts.  More than a couple years later, though, wearing collarless shirts made from flour white sacks, with the name of the company prominently displayed, became fashionable.  These were the same flour sacks popular among poor families as baby diaper materials and sewn together into blankets.

Prettified shirt from flour sack 

I kept that incident at the back of my mind and had greatly influenced my choice of clothes to wear during my seven-year stay in UPLB.  I initially settled with wearing my “civilian” clothes of my high school years during my first semester.  Realizing these were so “baduy”, a slang during my teen years that’s associated with “low class” fashion, I started building my wardrobe of denim jeans and t-shirts—mainly Levi’s and Crispa.

My last pair of Levis, a 501

I would have loved to have Levi’s 501s but they were expensive, so, I opted for the cheaper 503s, whose fit I really loved, and bought these in the only authorized Levi’s outlet in Pampanga—Laus Men’s World in San Fernando.  The first ones that I bought in 1976 were less than, if not a little over, one hundred pesos!  I also did not want to unnecessarily financially burden my parents and requested my mom to just buy me Crispa white t-shirts—it’s not that I was a Crispa Redmanizers fan, it’s just that I found them simple, was comfortable wearing them and no one would mistake them for chicken feed sacks.  More importantly, this get-up helped me to blend with the crowd, so to speak.  A Sigma Betan seatmate in my Spanish language course once asked me: "Are you really a Kapampangan?"  Realizing my puzzlement, "you don't dress like one," she continued.  

Available after all these years

For seven years, I roamed the vast campus of UPLB in my Levi's 503s and white Crispa t-shirts.  Every Sunday afternoon or early Monday morning, you’ll find my backpack crammed with my clean change of clothes for the week—at least five white tees, five white under wears and at least a couple of denim jeans—as I travel back to UPLB and the same number of clothes, but this time dirty, as I go home to Bacolor, Pampanga for the weekend.  Isn’t it ironic, I was supposed to hate uniforms but I was practically wearing them for seven years in UPLB and for another three years when I transferred in GAUF? 

The truth was I did not see my outfits as uniforms.  They were neither prescribed by the university nor any person in authority but were my practical preference.  I was happy wearing them and, sincerely, I did not pine for any other clothes.  I was absolutely, and is still, happy with them.

My oldest Lee jeans

I’ve actually come full circle.  Lately, I’ve been wearing mostly white tees, although none of them was a Crispa.  Maybe, one of these days, I’ll ask my wife to buy me a couple. Levi’s 503s are now out of production.  But even before they did, I’d already switched to Lee’s when I started working.  Because of the really low pay in NGOs—which I really don’t regret as it was the most rational choice to continue my advocacies as a social activist—and one who’s starting a family, I realized I had to give up wearing 503s and searched for cheaper jeans that were equally, if not more, tough and durable.  With Lee’s, I could have button flys and still have a few change for a t-shirt.  And so, it was Lee button flys and mostly coloured tees when I roamed rural villages of Luzon while reporting in various Quezon City-based offices during my employed years. The same outfits I brought to my failed 5-month stint as a development volunteer in Mombasa, Kenya.

My fave Lee cargo

Up to now, my wardrobe is still dominated by my Lee denim jeans—not necessarily button flys—and cargo shorts and various white tees.  But this time, I don’t go places; I don’t work.  I’m just a stay-at-home aging man; a househusband trying hard to be blogger. (30)

passing on at sixty

“Doing the garden, digging the weeds,

Who could ask for more?

Will you still love me, will you still feed me,

When I’m sixty-four?”

            ─ The Beatles

              “When I’m Sixty-Four”

I’m back to my early morning and late afternoon ritual of sitting in our garden set, leisurely sipping my favourite local brew, and toying with my hand-me-down netbook hoping I could hook up with the Muse.  Well, there’s no reason why I can’t revive (again) this blog—from its hiatus after I posted my last article on 7 December—and help me put some diversity in my rather uneventful life now that my youngest daughter had handed me down anew her netbook.  Since I’m through with my caregiving chores to my parents and went on to live with my ex-girlfriend (who’s now my wife J and mother to my two daughters) in our Playpen, my life practically revolves around the new member of the household, Mingo, my youngest daughter’s dog left to my care while she’s earning her keeps.

Actually, my life’s circumstance has hardly changed.  This time around I’m looking after a playful dog, whose energy appears without expiration in contrast to the lethargic existence of my then nonagenarian parents, especially my wheelchair-bound mom.  Coming out with my blog with a semblance of regularity is the major lack in my life’s previous formula; and this, I believe, is a vital element to meaningfully embark on another phase of my life and meet head on my twilight years.  I’m now striving to get into the groove and gain the momentum to resume my blog writing.  Unlike the pros, I just can’t sit in front of a computer and start writing.

  The bigger challenge I’m putting myself in  is up my output, which were two articles per month after I recovered from the unexpected death of my mother in April until the equally unexpected demise of my father in early December last year.  Since his passing on, I was only able to come out with just one post, which was actually up for final editing when he succumbed from haemorrhagic stroke two weeks after it struck him.  This is my first for 2014.

Looking after Mingo is very much unlike caring after my parents.  It’s more laidback and fun; in fact, it makes me forget all the cares in the world.  This was unlike the latter where the act itself is already a major worry.  Moreover, I now have time to attend some personal concerns after making sure that Mingo has access to his needs when I'm out.  In fact, I recently touched base with my alma mater, Gregorio Araneta University Foundation, or, to be more precise, its bastardized metamorphosis, De La Salle Araneta University.  (See my related blog, http://raulgalangsarmiento.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-noble-bastard-son_30.html, why this claim.)  This was practically impossible before.  On the other hand, with Mingo around, staying at home all day has become more fun.

As I see it, there is no reason why I can’t increase my blog output.  When I was just toying with the idea to come out with this, I assumed I could easily finish an article a week.  I thought I was still the 32-year old committed and gung-ho development worker that can finish a project proposal in a week’s time or less when some colleagues and I tried to nurture a NGO that embodies our nationalist and development ideals.  But I found out blog writing was different and my personal circumstance was different, too; there was simply a plethora of distraction that kept on upsetting my efforts to meet that target.

Before thinking of increasing my output, though, I have to get into the groove first and establish a momentum.  More than other things, that’s my biggest concern right now.   I won’t be lacking in topics to write on even if I’ll just limit myself to writing follow ups on the two most read topics I’d came out with—GAUF/DLSAU and Potrero, the barrio of my birth.  I sincerely believed it’s high time to make an update on “the noble bastard son” in the light of new developments at the DLSAU and after reading a book on Dr. Salvador Z. Araneta—“Glimpses on the Life, Philosophy and Advocacies of Dr. Salvador Z. Araneta” (Tadena, Callangan and Blancaflor, 2005)—given to me by the outgoing DLSAU Supreme Student Council President Robert Gatbonton after I gave a brief talk on “The Lasalyanetan Identity Forum” last January 2014.

There’s also no more opportune time, I believe, to take an in-depth look into the reasons and events that led to my barrio’s sluggish rise from the ashes of Mount Pinatubo eruption nearly a quarter of a century after that cataclysmic, life-changing event.  This too is the most apt juncture to examine and investigate how the padding of the list of voters that came to the fore in the last barrio (barangay) elections was perpetrated.  This may be amateurishly undertaken but the thing is something is being done on this shameful, deceitful and immoral act. 

A look into the fiscal management, how the finances of the barrio were disbursed in the past eleven years is also in order.  The financial resources may be meagre but I sincerely believed more projects, even if small, could have been undertaken to uplift the social well-being of the most vulnerable residents especially in the light of dearth in physical projects that the previous barrio council could brag. Traditional politicians usually undertake physical projects to easily rationalize their SOPs or tongpats and the people hardly complained because they could see where their money goes, even if, sometimes, these projects would crumble easily like the savoury puto sekos of Cabalantian.

This is the more rational and inevitable thing to do in the absence of barangay assemblies where the barangay council could have presented financial reports on how the barangay funds were disbursed. 

At the rate the situation evolves, there are more and more issues of national importance that every Johnny, Bong and Jinggoy could sink their teeth on.  But I’ll leave these to the more seasoned and more competent commentators and political analysts to explore and elucidate.  I would rather delve on parochial concerns and try to link these with the broader and encompassing national issues.  In this same vein that this angry old man believes that national social and political maladies should be treated at the grassroots.  All acts geared toward reforming and redressing the status quo will all go to naught unless independent and strong constituencies are nurtured in every nook and cranny in the country.

But is this all that there is to the life of a prematurely retired old man who opted to pursue an unconventional career as a young lad?  For someone who retired without any retirement plan and has to rely—literally and figuratively—on his better half for his sustenance?  Surely my blog writing and looking after Mingo and, may be, my grandchildren later, are beautiful distractions of my twilight existence, together with the usual old age maladies I’d witnessed in my parents.   I’m also certain the love of my life would still feed me and would continuously shower me with the simple luxuries I’ve enjoyed since I retired.      

Actually, this old man is not whining.  It’s just that I feel I have to say (write) something.  The truth is I have accepted this fate.  In fact, I didn’t even bother to look for a job after both my parents were gone and resume my development career.  My wife was right; the few pesos I’ll earn would not be enough to recompense for all the stresses I’ll have to endure working either in the public or private sector, or even in NGOs.  I mistakenly believed that NGO workers are a breed apart, to borrow a Merrill Lynch tag, only to hear from the human relations manager of an international NGO if I’m not bothered working with and reporting to younger people before I opted to prematurely retire and take care of my parents after my aborted “adventure” as a development volunteer in Kenya in 2007.  

Surely I had previous misgivings and unpleasant experiences with my previous NGO employers but that question was the most stupid I’d heard and could not believe it came from an institution that openly declared, even boasted in its website, its non-discriminatory and equal opportunity hiring policy.  Working with people like that HR manager, irrespective of age, gender and religion, would surely not be fun in a supposedly progressive development institution that advocates humane reforms and changes in social structures.

In a macho society like ours, it's not the norm for the husband to be the stay-at-home guy; he's supposed to earn the upkeep of the family.  Though there are now more and more men, younger, healthier and more productive than I, forced into this situation because our economy, aside from being non-inclusive, fails to generate the number and kind of jobs to keep our ever growing work force gainfully employed.  But I've long shed my machismo, at least that's what I thought, and would be contented with this situation until I pass on, hopefully, when I'm still strong and not ravaged by the usual old age disorders whose symptoms I'm now beginning to experience.  I've repeatedly told my wife and daughters that I would be happy passing on at sixty.  In the meantime, I'll relish blog writing on selected social and personal issues, looking after Mingo, housekeeping for my family and the simple luxuries I'm accorded.  (30)

start at the barangays - part 2

I was initially in the “strike while the iron is hot” mode again.    I was about to follow up my article “what now, potrero?” but super typhoon “Yolanda” came and lost my interest.  My thought was who will be interested in politics, especially local, in times like these.  If I was distraught and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the destruction, misery and displacement I saw in various TV footages, so is everybody, most likely.   

But as I reviewed my list of articles, I came across my earlier blog “start at the barangays” (http://raulgalangsarmiento.blogspot.com/2011/07/start-at-barangays.html) and gave me an idea that I could still do a follow up by taking off from this.  I also decided to reuse the title of this particular blog; which now looms as a recurring episode in my blog writing.  (As this was up for final editing, though, my 91-year old father suffered hemorrhagic stroke, was hospitalized for two weeks and met his death two days after he was discharged from the hospital.  Thus, the further delay in its publication.) 

The original article dealt on how to handle disaster risks that may arise from natural hazards.  I opined that we, Kapampangans, should be one of the most disaster-prepared among Filipino ethnic regional groupings.  Since time immemorial, our forebears had been exposed and confronted by natural hazards arising mainly from their choice of place to live—along the banks of the great Rio Grande (Pampanga River).  As “taga pampang” (people from riverbanks), natural hazards, like floods and tropical cyclones, were casual occurrences and elements of their lives, thus, they were forced to tame and live harmoniously with them.  At the time the Spanish conquistadors came, these “taga pampang” had their own form of government, their own culture, were already food self-sufficient and were trading in nearby countries. 

This collective innate ability to deal with natural hazards had been strengthened further by our not-so-distant encounter with Mount Pinatubo eruption and the resultant lahar flows.  But with super typhoon “Yolanda” as benchmark, we should now busy ourselves  building upon this accumulated collective innate ability to enable us to become much better prepared in these times of highly environmentally degraded and globally warmed world.  Since resiliency is one of the traits Kapampangans are known as a people—as all other Filipinos are—we should warm to this in no time. 

We really can’t afford to do otherwise since “the Philippines is one of the most disaster-prone places on Earth”, declared Kathleen Tierney, director of Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado.  “They’ve got it all.  They’ve got earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, tropical cyclones, landslides,” she further said (Associated Press, November 13^th, 2013 reprinted in globalnation.inquirer.net).   

This innate ability, I would say, is not confined to natural but to man-made hazards as well.  During the World War II, just like all other Filipinos, we successfully triumphed over and survived one of the worst man-made hazards and its equally catastrophic resultant disaster mankind had ever seen; the wars between the most powerful capitalist countries in the world fought in our midst.  As if this was not enough, another man-made hazard, the agrarian-based social and political unrest—the Huk rebellion—immediately followed.  This caused fear, displacement and mayhem mainly in Central Luzon, with Pampanga at the core.  For this old man, though, the greatest man-made hazard that we’ve encountered and continuously confront is of course our government, both local and national.  

I won’t be surprised if other people will presume that Kapampangans are seasoned to deal with both natural and man-made disasters because of our past exposures to natural and man-made hazards.  But from the country’s recent experience with the flurry of disasters that hit us just this last half of the year, especially the one brought about by “Yolanda”, we should not be so sure of this but instead should look deeper into it and do major adjustments and additional preparations. 

This early, though, this old man believes on the importance and indispensability of solid preparations at the grassroots (barangay) level.  If we can hardly describe the near annihilation of cities, towns and communities directly hit by super typhoon “Yolanda” in Central Philippines, how much more if current disaster risk reduction plans and activities are not tweaked accordingly by the concerned local government units and national government agencies.

We certainly can’t do away with the hazards but like the Kapampangans of old we should learn how to live harmoniously with these and consider them regular elements of our existence on this part of the Earth.  But our local governments should proactively play a central role in enabling individual residents to cope with and in accomplishing this seemingly impossible task. 

One of the most undeniable truths that truly convinced me on the indispensability and importance of local government units and solid grassroots preparations was the highly inspirational experience of a barangay in the Municipality of Guian in Eastern Samar that was hit first when “Yolanda” made its first of six landfalls.  Here is an impoverished far-flung and unheard of barangay reduced practically to rubbles but only suffered one casualty.  A resident interviewed by a TV network attributed their near zero casualty to early evacuation of fellow residents to safe grounds initiated by their barangay government.  There is no better proof than this to disprove the popular notion being peddled by government officials unwilling to take the blame—and aided by a section of the media—that the masses did not know what storm surge is, thus, the huge losses in lives and properties.  

Contrast this with what happened in Tacloban City, the highly economically developed regional center of Eastern Visayas.  The city mayor, his city councilor-wife and their children nearly became statistics in government’s list of casualties for stubbornly staying in their beachfront mansion.  I really pity their children who had to go through this ordeal because of the ineptness of their local government official-parents and their utter failure to safeguard them from harm.  My compassion also goes to all the residents that were either dead or physically and emotionally scarred.  Certainly, the people of Tacloban deserve better leaders that could equal, if not better, the leadership shown by the leaders of that small barangay that had beaten all odds and had triumphantly tamed the fury of “Yolanda”.  I just hope that the city leadership will wake up in time to pursue a no-nonsense post-disaster plan to mend and rebuild the shattered lives of the Taclobanons.

This also goes with all local government units, especially the frontline barangays, not only in the devastated areas but throughout the country.  It’s really high time that we all pay attention to our barangays not just in relation to how they handle hazards and respond accordingly to the resultant disasters but, more importantly, in transforming them into disaster resilient communities, in particular, and as safe refuges of the people notably in times of poverty, of war, and of danger, in general.  Any barangay that can overcome and thrive during adversarial times will surely have easier time pursuing not just post-disaster rehabilitation but also holistic community development in times of prosperity, of peace, and of safety.

As an end note, I cannot help but ask: how could barangays with run-of-the-mill leaders face the challenges of modern times replete with dangers and trials both man-made and natural?  In addition, would leaders whose victories in elections are gained through grave intimidations, irregularities and frauds be concerned with these dangers and trials?  Would they go to the extent of committing these despicable acts just for the opportunity to lock horns with these dangers and trials?  This, in the end, is where the bigger disaster in local governance starts.  This is also where barangay residents should direct and focus their risk reduction interventions against this man-made hazard that engenders and breeds breakdown not just in local but national governance, too.   (30)

nanu na, potrero?

Ating kasabyan keng Inglis a makanini:  “strike while the iron is hot”.  Pamukpukan me kabang mapali ing bakal.  Siyempre, balu tamu makapatungkul ya ini keng pamagpande.  Isipan mu makananu meng aporma ing bakal king ispada o patus kabayu, alimbawa, nung e mapali.  Nung gamitan keng tutung bie, sasabyan na nung kapilan ka dapat maktu.  Nung tukyan ke ini, ala nang mas angkup pang panaun para sumulat kung katuki na nitang minuna kung blog, “rat on one’s own: kwentung baryu”, nune ngeni kabang matas pa ing interes da detang mekabasa.  Dagdag pa, ngeni mu naman ing mas malagung oras para iarap ing metung a alternatibung munikala nung makananu yang lawen ing milabas a eleksyun at ing kayang relasyun king pangmalambatang panyulung ning baryu.  Pwedi ya naman lawen bilang boluntaryung payu ning matwang ini ali mu kareng bayung alal opisyalis nune kareng kabaryung manayang pamagbayu ampong reporma keng pamagpalakad keng barrio council.  Ing alikabuk dala ding milabas a eleksyun kinumpa na para asuri tamung masalese nung nanu ing sinabat keng panyulung ning baryu bang kanita makatagal ya kareng kasiping na.

Bayu ku gawan ini, atin ku pang buring ipayuna.  Mumuna, eku migbotu.  Ating kakalat balita na ating mapilan a kabaryu a binayad dang tsa 500 pesus para ena magbotu bang dagul ya tsansang sumambut itang metung a kandidatu.  Siguradu kung siguradu eku abe kareta, nung atin mang katutwan ini.  Kayabe kareng mapilang rason, ala kung pilakwan kareng kapamilya ku keng 91 idad kung tatang kabang magbotu.

 

Kadwa, masaya ku pa rin ambaski eku mekapagbotu.  Agawa kung mikaugnayan kareng mapilan a kabaryu uli ning milabas a eleksyun.  Ing mas makasaya ing nung makananu milyari ini, uling ali ketang akasanayan tamung paralan.  Ini milyari uli na nitang mesabi kung blog na nukarin palage ku keraklan kareng maigit 400 a linawe kabaryu la.  Misdan ku pin karagulan inyang bigla nakung kinaul matalik nitang metung tang kabaryung babai, a medyu mas maidad kaku, libutad ning palengki kabang sasali kung asan danum.  Ambaski ala yang sinabi, balu ku para keta yang sinulat ku ita.

Para keng kabaryung ita ampo detang ginawang paralan para aparatang da ing asabi da keng sinulat ku, migpasya kung mika Inglis ampong Kapampangan bersyun ya ini.

Ngeni, mibalik tana keng nung nanu na ing dapat  gawan kaibat ning eleksyun.

Magumpisa tamu ketang metung nang direktang resulta nini.  Dapat kung ipabalu ing atin kung limitasyun keng pamangalap impormasyun inya migdipendi ku mu kareng kakung araramdaman na pweding ausang tsismis.  Sumangid na nita, atin tamu namang kasabyan a “nung atin asuk, atin api”.  Maniwala ya ing matwang ini na mas praktikal na arapan no deni agad-agad bayu pa manyirang maragul kareng demokratiku tamung institusyun, kalupa ning eleksyun, kesa keng magpakatali pa keng pamanintun patutu.

Sobra lang maka-alarma deng sasabyan dang mengawang bawal, nung tutu la, inyang milabas a alalan inya dapat nong suwayan kabang maranun.  Iti bang eno lalung dagul at kumalat pa ing kasiran a idulut kareng miyaliwa-liwang prosesu ning alalan.  Milalage la naman keng mikelangan pati ing moralidad laluna ding pakakalulu.  Basi keng kakung dindam, keraklan kareni merapat la bayu ampong kabang mararapat ing eleksyun.

Metung kareng sobrang matingkad a iregularidad megawa kanu bayu ing aktwal a eleksyun ya pin ing bigla lang merakal deng botanti kayari ning special voters registration.  Ini siyempre e malyari nung alang milyaring sapakatan pagitan ding opisyalis baryu ampo ning COMELEC.  Basi keng impormasyung binye da kaku kabang makabakasyun ku king Playpen (basan ing http://raulgalangsarmiento.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-playpen_3440.html) misampa lang reklamu keng COMELEC Bacolor nung nukarin migsabmit lang listaan dareng posibling flying voters karetang bayung pepalista.  Ing eku aintindian nung bakit ene tinggap ning COMELEC Bacolor itang buung listaan nune memili yang mapilan dang inimbistiga at leko.  Inya asabi ku kareng minta kaku na kumunsulta la keng abugadu o kaya makisabi lang mayap keng Vice Mayor, na dating tinalan at migpanyambut keng reklamu ning meyor ning Magalang, ba dang abalu nung nanu ing dapat gawan.

Para keng matwang ini, katungkulan dana deng bayung alal a opisyalis na pakyalaman ini bang alinis ya kareng flying voters ing listaan da deng botanti ning baryu kabang maranun.  Ing lawe ku, ing mesabing reklamu ali nyamu keng oriinal a migreklamu nune karen ne ngang egana-eganang memaryu.  Nung gawan da ini ampong aliwa pang kalupang aksyun, pati ila magbenepisyu kelambatan uling mabawas ing suspetsa da karela na kasangkut la keng megawang pamagloku.  At keng talagang migreklamu, dapat nang pangunyatan, magdili-dili ya man o kayabe no reng mapilang opisyalis baryu, na mikamalinong pararasan ing kayang reklamu ali mu para kareng sinuporta ampong maniwala kaya nune pati kareng egana-ganang kabaryu.  Ini ing lalung magpatutu na kasing karapat-dapat ya, nung e man mas ya, kareng sinambut king alalan.  

Uli ning makanining mengapalyari, maniwala ya ing matwang ini na dapat tanang mitalakad a aguman da reng ating masabal keng Potrero.  Dapat indipindienti ya ini keng council at iyang manimunang misulung kareng pisasabyan da deng memaryu.  Dapat mebyasa tana na e tangan pweding lakwan keng council ing panyulung ning baryu nung ali lalu yang e masensu ampong lalu daka tamung pulutan keng kangkungan, ngana pin ning kasabyan.  

Kabang isipan ke ini, ing organisasyun agad kung aganaka ya pin itang aguman dareng taung magmalasakit keng probinsya ning Abra na magsilbing tagabante da deng memalen kareng karelang opisyalis ampong lokal dang gubyernu, lalu na keng pamagbante kareng gagawan dang dalan ampong tete ampo keng karelang pinansya.  Inya e makapagtaka marakal kareng miyembru na niti inyeru, CPA ampong aliwa pang professional.  Sangayun kareng abasa ku, ela basta-bastang makagawang kalokwan deni uling pane yang makabante ing aguman.  Maragul mebawas ing kurakutan uling ela mitakutan ambaski katatakutan ya ing Abra bilang balwarti ding warlord ampo ding karelang private armies.

Kayabe kareng ayisip kung papil ning ketamung pweding italakad a aguman ya pin ing magsilbing taga gising kareng matutudtud a opisyalis ampong maglatag munikalang alternatibung planu ampong programa, iyabe na pati ordinansa, lalu na nung mika Barangay General Assembly na.  Pota namang panaun na ning alalan, otomatiku yang mag-transporma ini bilang bante keng eleksyun, kalupa ning NAMFREL o ning Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), bang pigilan ing pamaglapastangan kareng batas pang-eleksyun kalupa na ning atangalan keng mengalabas a alalan.  Kalupa ning aguman king Abra, dumipendi ya ini kareng human capital ning baryu na ikit tamung ilang sangkan keng kayang panyulung bayu ya pa memakbung ing Pinatubu.

Dudwang ne ning matwang ini ing kayang serbisyu para pangunan ing pamagpalitang ideya nung nanu ya ing maging porma ampong programa ning agumang italakad.  Mika karanasan ya kasi keng pamanayus ampong pamagpalakad aguman keng milabas ng obra kareng NGO pati na mu rin keng pamangawang planu gamit ing participatory rural/community planning.

Oini naman ing buring nang sabyan kareng bayung alal tamung opisyales.  Sana apagtantu da ing meyaring eleksyun patikim ya pa kareng mas masakit pero mas importanti dang papil, gampanan ampong responsibilidad: ing pamanyambut IYA PA ing umpisa.  Kabang maranun, magaral na kayung Local Government Code (LGC, 1991) bang maging pamilyar na kayu kareni.  Nung sakali naman, ing Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) mamye yang orientation-seminar tungkul kareni, siryoswan yu ing pamagaral at eyu gawang bakasyun (uling mepagal kayu keng pamangampanya) nung marapat ini kareng tourist spot kalupa ning Baguio, Subic ampong aliwa pang mangalagung lugar.

Nung eyu pakiramdaman ini, kutnan yuno mo ding sarili yo nung makananu yung iyaktu ing papil ning metung a barangay:  “As the basic political unit, the barangay serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects and activities in the community, and as a forum wherein the collective views of the people may be expressed, crystalized and considered, and where disputes may be amicably settled” (LCG 1991: Sec. 384). [Bilang pekamababang parti ning gubyernu, ing barangay iyang primerung magplanu ampong magpatupad kareng polisiya, planu, programa, proyektu at aktibidad king komunidad, ampong lugar ya nung nukarin alulwal, alino ampong apagdibatyan deng piyabe-yabeng opinyun deng memaryu, ampo nung nukarin alang sigalut lang malutas ding e pamikaintindi o pate ding tau.]    

Keng kapitan, dapat mu nang balu nung makananu kasaklo ing kekang kapangyarian.  Mas malapad ini kesa keng meyor, na keng kagyatan iyang boss mu.  Asasabi da mung mas makapangyarian ya ing mayor kesa keka uling iyang kokontrol ampo lalawe kareng gubyernung pambaryu ampong iya ing malyaring sumuspindi keka ampo kareng konseyal.  Pero ika, ali mu ing kalupang kapangyarian—executive—ning meyor  ing atin ka, nune kapangyariang legislative—gawang ordinansa—mu naman kalupa ning keng bise meyor, uling ika ing magpalakad at manimuna kareng miting ning konsehu.  Aliwa mu ita, atin ka naman kapangyarian da deng korti—judicial—uling ika mu rin ing manimuna keng Lupon Tagapamayapa na ating atas para mabilis ampong alang sigalut nong lutasan deng eda pikaintindian ding memaryu.  Makalula la deng kekang papil, gampanan ampong responsibilidad nung talagang gawan mula.  Pero nung balu mong gamitan deng kekang mesabing kapangyarian, malagwa mulang tuparan ampong gawan deni.

Malati ku panenayang agawa na ning bayung konsehu, kalupa ning asulat ku ketang minuna kung blog:  “magbalangkas ampong magpatupad lang batayang polisiya o ordinansa, sistema ampong paralan na king kelambatan akasanayan dong tutukyan" bang tapat ampong masalese dong agawa deng karelang papil, gampanan ampong responsibilidad.  Masakit ya ba ine?  Siguru pin, nung ing karelang pusu ampong kaladwa ala yu king dapat dang gagawan king konsehu.  (30)

what now, potrero?

There’s an English saying which goes: “strike while the iron is hot”.  This obviously refers to the forging or shaping of metal.  Can you imagine how you can shape a piece of iron into a sword or horseshoe, for example, if it’s not hot?  When applied to life situation, it tells one when is the best time to act or make your move.    Based on this adage, the most opportune time, therefore, to come out with a follow up to my earlier blog, “rat on one’s own: kwentung baryu”, is now so as to cash in on the interest of those who’ve read it.  This is also the most apt time to advance an alternative perspective on how to look at the past electoral exercises vis-à-vis our barrio’s long term-development, which might be taken also as this old man’s unsolicited advice not only to the newly elected barrio officials but to other barrio residents too who longed for changes and reforms in our barrio governance.  The dusts that were disturbed by the rampaging horses that were the barangay elections, so to speak figuratively, should have settled down by now to enable us to critically start to look into our barrio’s stunted development with the objective of bringing it at par with that of our neighbors.

Before doing so, however, allow me to make some disclosures.  First, I didn’t vote.  There was a rumour spreading around that a number of residents who did not vote were paid 500 pesos by a candidate to lessen the chances of her rival to win; this definitely was not my case.  Among other reasons, no one in my family could look after my 91-year old father while I’ll be away to cast my vote. 

 

Second, I still felt happy in spite of this failure.  The elections enabled me to link up with a few fellow barrio residents.   What made me happier was the manner in which this was made possible.  It was accomplished in a very unusual manner compared to what we’re all used to.  And it was through my above mentioned blog where the majority of the more than 400 page views were fellow barrio residents, I assumed.   This recent incident tended to support this.  An amiable lady, a bit older than me, suddenly embraced me tightly in the middle of the local wet market two days after the elections while I was buying some fish.  Without uttering any word, I knew that hug was her expression of appreciation for my article.

 With that lady in mind and others who find ways to relay their feedback, I decided that this will come out in both English and Kapampangan.

And now, back to this old man’s take on what is to be done after the barangay elections.   

Let’s start with an issue that’s a direct off-shoot of the recently concluded political exercises.  I must divulge beforehand that I am basically in no position to personally gather information that I needed and verify some that I’d heard since I can hardly leave home because of my care giving responsibilities to my father.  So, whatever I say here is practically based on mostly second hand information, or simply put, hearsays.  But as another cliché goes: “where there is smoke, there is fire”.  This old man thinks it’s prudent to address this now before it really causes irreparable damage in our local democratic institutions. 

 The rumored irregularities in the last elections are truly disturbing development, if true, and should be arrested before they can develop further and corrupt extensively our local electoral processes.  It also endangers the moral fiber of our fellow residents, particularly the poor and marginalized.  Based on what I heard, these irregularities happened mostly supposedly before and during the elections.

One of the most glaring of these alleged pre-elections wrongdoings was the padding of our voters list after suspected non-residents where able to register during the recent special voters registration.  This of course will not be possible unless connivance existed between concerned barangay officials and the local COMELEC office.  I was informed of this while I was vacationing at the Playpen (see http://raulgalangsarmiento.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-playpen_3440.html) and was initially briefed of the case filed with the municipal COMELEC office.  If I got my facts right, the Municipal COMELEC Officer refused the submitted list of new registrants that were alleged to be flying voters but had only chosen a few, a partial list, to investigate.  I still don’t understand the reason behind this decision to this day.  I advised those who visited me to avail the services of a lawyer, or seek the advice of the Vice Mayor who successfully handled the election case of the Magalang town mayor before seeking his present post anew, so they’ll be guided on the legally correct steps to take.

For this old man, it is incumbent upon the newly elected barrio officials to follow up the initial case filed and effect the purging of our voters list of flying voters as early as now.  This is no longer just the case of the previous complainant but of all the Potrero residents as well.  In the long run, this will benefit these officials, in a way, as this can somehow erase the cloud of suspicion on their possible complicity to this by taking this and other related actions.  To the original complainant, it is also obligatory on her part to see this through to its proper conclusion either in conjunction with other barrio officials or solely on her own.  This will be a much better invaluable service she can render not only to her supporters who believed in her but to all residents as well.  This will prove further that she's just as deserving, if not more, as the others who were elected. 

Because of this development, this old man believes the situation is rife for the formation of an organization of concerned citizens that will neither be for nor against the barangay council but will pursue issues independently from it.  We should have learned by now from the outgoing barangay council that the whole barrio could not just wait idly for their actions otherwise we’ll end up deeper in underdevelopment and as a local cliché declares “pulutin tayo sa kangkungan”—we’ll up in a pond of water spinach. 

While on this, the organization that easily comes to mind is that of the concerned citizens of the Province of Abra that serves as the people’s watchdog over their local governments, especially as monitors of various infrastructure projects and government finances.  It is not surprising that this organization is stacked with engineers, CPAs and other professionals.  From what I gathered from my readings, this organization keeps their local—municipal and provincial—governments on their toes and consciously aware that the people are watching over them.  It has been instrumental in keeping graft and corruption at bay although the province is a known bastion of warlordism and private armies.

Among the many roles that our own organization will perform is to jolt the barangay officials from their slumber and inaction and propose alternative barrio plans and programs, even ordinances, especially during Barangay General Assemblies, that is, if they’ll now be held.  During election periods, this organization should automatically transform itself into an election watchdog, like the NAMFREL or the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), and guard against the various infractions against the Omnibus Election Code that were noted in the last elections.  It will also rely on our barrio’s human capital, which has been in abundance ever since as shown by the kind of development that Potrero enjoyed prior the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, which won't be possible with just the council around, I surmised.  

This old man is volunteering his services to facilitate brainstorming sessions of these concerned residents to further crystalize and sharpen what this organization should be and in organizing it thereafter.  Part of his work as a NGO (development) worker dealt with organizational development and management and participatory rural/community planning.

And to the newly elected barrio officials, this is what I want tell you.  You should realize that the elections were just the run-up to your more difficult but more important roles, functions and responsibilities; winning the elections was just THE beginning.  This early, take the initiatives to review these in the Local Government Code (LGC) of 1991.   If ever the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) will conduct an orientation-seminar on this, take it seriously and don’t see it as an opportunity to see tourist spots in the country if ever you’ll end up in Subic, Baguio or any other places for this.

If you don’t heed this advice, ask yourselves how are you going to enact the role of the barangay:  “As the basic political unit, the barangay serves as the primary planning and implementing unit of government policies, plans, programs, projects and activities in the community, and as a forum wherein the collective views of the people may be expressed, crystalized and considered, and where disputes may be amicably settled” (LCG 1991: Sec. 384).

To the kapitan, you should know the extent of your powers.  That you have more extensive power than the municipal mayor, which is your immediate boss.  The mayor is only deemed more powerful than you are because s/he supervises the barangay governments and has the power to suspend you and other barangay officials.  But your office does not only have executive powers that s/he possesses but also the legislative powers of the municipal council, particularly of the vice mayor, as you’ll be the presiding officer of the barrio council.  But that’s not all; you also wield judicial powers similar to that of a judge as you’ll also chair the Lupon Tagapamayapa that is tasked to speedily and amicably settle disputes in the barrio.  Your role, functions and responsibilities, if you really intend to do them, appear daunting.  But these same powers will see you through in competently performing your role, functions and responsibilities, that is, if you will learn how to harness them toward this end.

I really have very little expectation in terms of accomplishments from the incoming barrio council, which I wrote in my last blog:  “just craft, implement and, eventually, mainstream the basic policies/ordinances, systems and procedures” toward ensuring the performance of their specified roles, functions and responsibilities.   Is it still a tall order?  Maybe, but only for people whose hearts and souls lie elsewhere. (30)